


Just to Get a Glimpse Beyond the Illusion

by TinyButFierce



Series: The Word I'm Looking For [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Pepper Potts, Iron Dad, Multi, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Stark Industries, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vines, Work In Progress, the press
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-05-24 16:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14958398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyButFierce/pseuds/TinyButFierce
Summary: The press does not like to be left in the dark.Not for matters such as this.(sequel to Carry on Wayward Son)





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends!
> 
> I got a lot of requests to continue this series. Here you go.
> 
> This occurs a bit after Carry on Wayward Son, it's based off of the fallout from Ch. 3's press conference.
> 
> If you haven't read the 5+1 proceeding this fic I would highly recommend reading it. Everything will make a lot more sense that way.
> 
> Title is from Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas (oooo see what I did there?). I own nothing.
> 
> Lots of thanks to my wonderful beta RecklessDaydreamer!!!!!

Whispers permeated the streets. 

 

Newspapers fluttered in the wind and the headlines announcing that Tony Stark had chosen an heir decorated front pages for days.

 

Most of the news sources had chosen to align with what Pepper Potts and the entire PR department of Stark Industries had requested. 

 

Others didn’t. 

 

Favors were called in. Bribes changed hands. Security was put on high alert.

 

Pepper Potts watched it all happen from her window lined office. Standing and looking out of the window over the city, she crossed her arms and sighed. 

 

It had taken days of negotiation with the board and Tony to lay out the way that the press conference was going to go. 

 

The only reason that it had been necessary for them to reveal that information that yes, Tony Stark did in fact have an heir, was because of how hard a hit Iron Man had taken the day before. Videos had littered the news of Iron Man limping off of the battlefield and the board consequently created a riot.

 

Frantic about the fact that, every time Iron Man took a hit, the stocks went down, they demanded that Tony release to the public that he did in fact have an heir. The board had been notified of the fact a few months before. 

 

Pepper watched the cars pass by below her and thought about how Tony had returned from the battle that night. Suppressing his pain, he had smiled at her and croaked out a “hey Pep” at his fiancée before groaning and clutching his side. 

 

She had rushed forward and, with the help of FRIDAY, convinced him to get medical assistance. Two broken ribs. The nurse on call bandaged him up (with no lack of trouble from Tony) and Pepper had paced outside, watching the emails and calls on her phone add up.

 

The nurse walked out of the room and nodded at Pepper, who rushed in to the sight of Tony attempting to get up from the bed. The CEO sighed and sat down next to him, stroking her hand through his hair as he grimaced and tried to bat her hand away, a small smile playing on his face.

 

Her phone buzzed again. Looking down at it, she sighed, and Tony frowned.

 

“What’s going on, Pep?”

 

She placed the phone on the side table and looked her fiancé in the eyes.

 

“It’s the board. They want you to release information about Peter’s position so that the stocks stop getting as hurt whenever you go to fight.”

 

Tony’s eyes turned hard. “Absolutely not.”

 

“Tony…”

 

“Pepper. I had to deal with the press my entire life and I am not subjecting Peter to that kind of torment. I know exactly what they’ll say about him. Do you think they’ll believe that he’s not mine biologically? Do you think that the kids at his school will treat him the same? Do you think he’ll ever be able to go to a movie without being accosted by the paparazzi?”

 

“Tony…”

 

“I can’t do that to him, Pep.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I… I can’t do that to him.”

 

Tony had focused on a spot on the wall across from him and stared it down. Pepper took off her heels and climbed in next to him. Touching his face and turning it towards her, she looked him in the eyes and made a promise. “We’ll figure out something.”

 

That had been two weeks ago. In that time, the press had continued to send their lurking fingers through all sorts of aisles. Tony’s heart problems had only been increased with the fact that the Avengers had found a way to actually meet Peter while in the safety of the tower. Pepper had sat down with the board and with CEOs of news corporations and negotiated and negotiated because she made a promise to keep Peter safe from all of Tony’s fears. 

 

She wished she had been there when the Avengers had breached the tower. Unfortunately, negotiating deals with the press for their silence on the matter had required her to fly across the country. She wasn’t there to defend her boys.

A knock sounded on her door and she turned around to see her assistant walk in. They covered the normal stuff. Signatures that were needed, schedules to change, expenses for the new model of the Stark phone, oh, and that WHiH claimed to have discovered the identity of the Stark heir.

 

Pepper paused and looked up in shock at the last piece of information, demanding to see proof. As her assistant walked out of the room, FRIDAY projected the announcement. 

 

Christine Everhart.

 

Of course.

 

Apparently the investigative reporter had discovered lots of information and had ignored all of Pepper’s careful negotiations. It had been reported on WHiH’s website that there would be an hour long special that very day about the matter of the Stark heir. 

 

Pepper’s eye twitched and she exhaled angrily. Running her hands through her hair, she stared down at the table. 

 

FRIDAY interrupted. “Ms. Potts? My information lists Ms. Everhart as someone to be watched. Do you want me to inform Boss?”

 

Pepper looked up and smiled at the nearest camera. 

 

“No need to tell Tony about this right now. Christine and I have an… interesting relationship. Let’s just say that I once alluded to her being trash. She’s tended to not cooperate since then. Fragile ego.”

 

“I see.”

 

“All right. FRIDAY can you connect me to the head of WHiH?”

 

Pepper spent the next hour on the phone. 

 

It ended in Pepper placing the phone gently onto the table and steepling her fingers while spinning around in her chair. 

 

That had been a thoroughly uncooperative call. They refused to stop the broadcast and refused to give her any information on what they would be releasing. 

 

Pepper sighed, “All right. FRIDAY. Contact legal about what’s about to go down, freedom of the press and all that, but see if we can nail them with privacy violations or an ethics court. Tell PR to get ready with a statement and possibly a press conference. Let May know about the broadcast. Are Tony and Peter in the penthouse?”

 

“Yes, Ms. Potts.”

 

“Tell them that I’m coming up.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for reading!
> 
> I will be taking requests so let me know if there's something you want to read and I'll see if I can write it.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you RecklessDaydreamer! You should put "comma wrangler" on your resume.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Chapter 2 in less than a week? Yay!
> 
> Once again, lots of love to RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this!

The sun shone through the bulletproof windows that lined the walls of the penthouse. In the living room, papers decorated with chemistry equations littered a modern coffee table. Peter scribbled on one of the sheets with a pen while Tony leaned back on the couch and glanced over calculations that the teen had already written down. A highlighter rested in between his fingers and he spun it around, stopping to emphasize an equation every once in a while.

 

FRIDAY interrupted the peace. “Sorry to bother you, Boss. Ms. Potts is on her way up. She has something to discuss with both of you.” 

 

Tony looked up at the camera in concern. “What is it?”

 

“I’m going to let her tell you.”

 

Peter set his pen down and looked at Tony. The billionaire made eye contact and shrugged, setting down the highlighter and turning towards the entrance to the room as the sound of clicking heels made itself known.

 

Pepper walked into the room and smiled as she saw Tony and Peter sitting with mounds of science around them. 

 

She sat down on the chair adjacent to Tony and Peter and noted the concerned looks that the two were sending her way.

 

Tony swallowed. “So... Pep. What’s up? Is this about the wedding? I swear that I contacted the flourist and I did get the ones that you wanted!”

 

Pepper sighed. “I wish it was about the wedding. No, it’s about the press conference that we had a few weeks ago. The one announcing that you had an heir. Apparently a certain Christine Everhart has a special about the identity of the heir that will one hundred percent be aired tonight.”

 

Peter’s eyes grew wide and his breath hitched. He began to speak in a small voice. “Does that mean that they know who I am now?”

 

Tony glanced at Peter, his eyes full of concern. “We don’t know that for sure.”

 

Peter looked down and fidgeted with his shirt. Tony flicked his gaze towards Pepper and jerked his head towards the kitchen. The CEO got up and walked that way, leaving Tony with Peter momentarily.

 

Tony looked in concern at the teenager, who averted his eyes away. “Hey. Kiddo. Look at me.”

 

Peter flickered his eyes back up to Tony, who gave the kid a small smile. “We’ll figure it out, don’t worry. Chances are they have the wrong person. If they do guess that it’s you then we’ll take the necessary steps okay?”

 

The teen nodded and Tony sighed. “I’m going to go talk to Pepper real quick. Will you be okay over here?”

 

The teen nodded again and Tony regretfully stood up from the couch and headed over to where Pepper was standing in the kitchen. 

 

He immediately walked over to the cupboards and pulled out three mugs, filling them up with water and putting them in the microwave. 

 

As he watched the timer tick down, he turned to look at Pepper who was leaning against the counter, gazing at him with a sad look in her eyes.

 

The timer continue to tick down and he took a deep breath. “What are we going to do, Pep?”

 

The CEO glared at the countertop. “I have tried every single thing that I could think of to stop this from happening. I even channeled you and threatened to buy WHiH news! The lawyers could have had fun with that one.”

 

Tony gaped at his fiancée. “I’m so proud of you. It’s usually me who threaten to buy everything. Am I being a bad influence on you?”

 

Pepper grimaced. “It was my last resort.”

 

The microwaved beeped and Tony opened the door to pull out the three cups full of hot water. Digging three hot chocolate packets out of a drawer, he poured the powder into the water and stirred it with a spoon. The aroma wafted through the whole kitchen and Pepper raised an eyebrow at the use of the hot chocolate powder.

 

“Really? The powder version?”

 

“I’m going for comfort, not style.”

 

Pepper nodded and accepted the cup that Tony handed her. The billionaire picked up the other two cups and started walking back to the living room, Pepper trailing behind him.

 

Handing the cup to Peter, the three sat down around the table. 

 

Peter sipped some of the hot chocolate and looked around at the two adults. 

 

“So… what’s the plan?”

 

Tony glanced over at Pepper and nodded. The CEO set down her hot chocolate on the table and sighed. 

 

“Well. At this point we can’t stop the broadcast, I’ve tried everything I could legally do…”

 

Tony raised his hand and waved it around. Pepper raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yes, Tony?”

 

“I could call Natasha and have her stop the broadcast. I’m sure she’d be happy to help her spider buddy.”

 

Peter giggled while Pepper stared at Tony. “Tempting, but no. I said legally for a reason, Tony.”

 

“Fine, fine.”

 

Turning to look back at Peter, Pepper continued. “If they get the identity wrong then we will just make a statement saying so. If they did somehow find out that it’s you, then we have three options. One is to deny it. I would rather not do that, though, given that you are in fact the heir. Option two is radio silence. Once again, I would rather not do that. PR would give us hell for ignoring this. Option three is to hold a press conference.”

 

Peter flinched. Tony and Pepper both looked at the teen in concern before looking at each other. They communicated in glances.

 

Pepper’s phone buzzed. The CEO looked down at all of her messages and groaned. 

 

“All right. I have to head down to PR now. I’ll try and hold them off as long as I can, but we will have to do something. I had FRIDAY contact May to tell her what’s about to happen. It’s probably good that we arranged for you to stay here over the summer. We can keep better control over the fallout from the tower. The broadcast should start in an hour. I’ll be back up here by then.”

 

Placing a hand on Tony’s shoulder and sending one last concerned glance towards Peter, Pepper walked out of the penthouse to go put out the fires in PR and start some fires in the legal department.

 

Not literally of course. That’s R&D’s job.

 

Tony and Peter were left alone. Peter’s hot chocolate was drained and the empty cup sat on the table. Making a noise of concern, Tony moved to sit next to Peter and enveloped the teen in a hug.

 

The teen reciprocated and clung on to his mentor. 

 

The silence became to be too much for the genius, too used to Peter filling up any pause in a conversation. 

 

“Hey Pete. Did I ever tell you about the first press conference I was ever in?”

 

A muffled “no” came from where Peter had rested his head against Tony’s chest.

 

“I was about 4, this was right after I made my first circuit board. Howard decided to tout it around even though he was critical of the work when we got home. Anyways, he made me have a press conference. Now remember, I was 4. Let’s just say that I didn’t take to kindly to some of the questions and I ended up biting one of the reporters. I made him bleed. Ha.”

 

Peter looked up at Tony in confusion. “Wait. If this was a press conference, how did you get close enough to bite him?”

 

“The logistics aren’t important.”

 

Peter giggled.

 

Tony looked down at the teen fondly. “To sum up this story, I have set a very low bar for performance during a press conference premiere. If that’s what we end up having to do, I’m sure you can beat that.”

 

Peter sniffed and ended the hug, sitting up to look at Tony with wide brown eyes. “You really think so?”

 

“Think so? I know so.”

 

Peter smiled and looked down.

 

Tony placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “All right, you clean up these papers. I’m going to go order a pizza and whip up some popcorn. We need to celebrate your first day as a paparazzi prone Stark.”

 

Peter smiled and picked up the papers, heading towards his room.

 

Once he was out of sight, the smile dropped from Tony’s face.

 

He had gotten used to his private life being invaded.

 

Now Peter would have to as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Comments and Kudos keep me writing! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! Another chapter! Yay!!!
> 
> I credit RecklessDaydreamer for all of the comma management. Thanks!
> 
> Thanks to Eskaybe, Ice_flow, and TheJadePhoenix for their prompts.

The WHiH logo danced across the screen. Images of world events scrolled within it as the colors streamed together and subtracted into the corner.

 

The blond reporter smiled at the camera with a vulture-like glint in her eye. 

 

“Good evening. My name is Christine Everhart. Tonight's special report is an investigation into the remarks made a few weeks ago by billionaire, and Iron Man, Tony Stark.”

 

She turned to face a different camera as a photo of Tony, wearing a three piece suit and his classic sunglasses, appeared on screen next to her.

 

For the next fifteen minutes of the broadcast, she elaborated on Tony’s history, as if no one watching knew anything about him. Finally, the clip from SI’s recent press conference was shown.

 

Tony leaned against the podium and looked into the camera.

 

“In the past year or so, I have been training a replacement for myself. While he is not mine biologically, he has levels of intellect that rival my own and compassion that I never had. There is no one better that I would name my heir. He has my entire confidence and I’m sure that he will earn yours.”

 

The clip faded into the background and Christine was on screen again. Smiling at the camera, she continued.

 

“Due to the investigative nature of WHiH news, we have successfully identified the new Stark heir. Coming soon. After this commercial break.”

 

The commercials began to run and a certain group of people stared daggers at the screen hanging in their penthouse living room.

 

Pepper Potts, Peter Parker, and Tony Stark all sat in silence while a commercial advertising Mini Coopers played in the background.

 

Tony cleared his throat. “Hey, did anyone else notice how they edited out my statements about ‘please don’t look for him’ and ‘he’s still in school.’”

 

Pepper glared at the TV. “We noticed.”

 

Tony looked around at the people in the room. “This is all a bunch of crap. Look at this terrible suspense. How can people watch this? FRIDAY? How many people are watching this?”

 

FRIDAY paused for a second. “20 million viewers, Boss.”

 

Peter made a choking noise. Tony patted him on the back. “Aww, that’s less than a quarter of the amount who watch the Super Bowl every year.”

 

Before Pepper could reprimand Tony about traumatizing Peter any more, the elevator to the penthouse dinged. 

 

Looking back towards the entrance, the three were greeted to the sight of Rhodey walking in. Tony’s gaze landed on the braces wrapped around the Colonel’s legs and his eyes hardened with guilt. 

 

Rhodey, noticing the look, raised his eyebrow at Tony. They had already had the guilt complex conversation before and he did not want to have to repeat it.

 

Peter looked up and waved at the Colonel.

 

Rhodey smiled in response. “I heard what was happening and I came here as fast as I could. There’s a crowd building up outside the tower.” 

 

Tony groaned. “Great.” 

 

Rhodey patted Tony on the shoulder and sat down in the chair next to the couch where the other three were spread out.

 

Glancing at the TV, now advertising some medicine with too many side effects, Rhodey settled in on the chair and turned to look at Peter.

 

“Have they said who they think you are yet or are they just talking about Tony incessantly?”

 

Peter smiled at the Colonel. “Talking about Tony incessantly.”

 

Rhodey nodded and started to grin. “Have they talked about the MIT noodle incident?”

 

Tony’s eyes widened comically and he started to panic. “Absolutely not. Rhodey, no.”

 

Pepper sighed and smiled while Peter sat up straighter and looked at Rhodey with a gleam in his eye. 

 

“Please tell!”

 

The Colonel smiled at Peter and winked at Tony, who immediately covered his face.

 

“Well… so Tony here decided that…”

 

The WHiH music started to chime and the group quieted. Rhodey threw in a quick “tell you later” as they all focused on the TV once again.

 

Christine Everhart showed up on the screen with her usual grin. 

 

“Welcome back. Last we left off, we covered the background of Tony Stark. Now is when we focus on his heir.”

 

Christine turned to face the other camera and a picture of Midtown appeared next to her.

 

Tony swore under his breath, Pepper shooting a warning glance at her fiancé. 

 

Christine continued to speak. “Due to spottings of Tony Stark and his driver during various occasions at the Midtown School of Science and Technology, we were able to discern the identity of his heir.”

 

A picture of none other than Peter Parker appeared on the screen. It was blurry and obviously taken from a distance. It showed the teen getting into one of the cars that Happy liked to drive.

 

All four people in the penthouse froze. 

 

“In this photo, you can clearly see the teenager known as Peter Parker getting into a car belonging to Stark Industries and its fleet of drivers. When questioned, his classmates described him as smart, solitary, and oh, he also has an internship at Stark Industries.”

 

The SI logo appeared over the photo of Peter. “We sent an undercover agent to Stark Industries on the trail of the internship. When we got in contact of the person in charge of the program, we were told in no uncertain terms that the internship was for college students only.”

 

“So how did an orphaned teen from Queens just happen to get an internship in a program that doesn’t accept high schoolers? The answer is quite obvious. It’s a cover up.”

 

The images changed to the old Forbes magazine cover that was taken with Obadiah Stane and Tony when he was about to take over the company. Next to the cover was a better photo of Peter, obviously taken from the school newspaper’s coverage of the science team.

 

Seeing the photo with Obadiah, Tony tensed up. Pepper sent a glance towards Tony and then looked over at Peter. 

 

The teen was staring at the TV, but it didn’t look like he was focusing. He was frozen, lots of thoughts running through his head. 

 

Pepper nudged Tony and tilted her head toward Peter. 

 

Seeing the distress on his mentee’s face, Tony stood up. 

 

“Alright. I’m done watching this. They’re bringing out the photos of me in my 20’s and nothing good can come of that. Peter. We’re going down to the lab.”

 

Peter jerked his eyes away from the screen. “I thought we had to watch this?”

 

Tony laughed. “Nope. We do not need to watch this. Come on. You don’t have to subject yourself to this. Lab. Lab. Lab. Let’s go.”

 

Peter stood up from the couch and followed Tony out of the room. Pepper and Rhodey were left.

 

Rhodey sighed and looked over at Pepper. “Kid doesn't deserve this.”

 

The CEO shook her head and took her phone out. Notifications popped up and Pepper growled under her breath.

 

Rhodey looked over at her in concern. “What’s up?”

 

“The legal team just got back to me. Apparently New York has no laws that prohibit releasing information about a minor. There’s just a lot of ethical problems rather than things we can do legally.”

 

The Colonel frowned. “What can we do?”

 

Pepper looked up with a shark-like grin. “We can make sure that WHiH news never gets to come to an SI or Avengers event ever again.”

 

“Works for me.”

 

The two went quiet as they continued to watch the program all the way to the end. 

 

Pepper stood up when it finished, and the TV turned off.

 

“I’m sorry to leave you, but I have to go meet with PR.”

 

Rhodey waved it off and slowly stood up from where he was sitting. 

 

“No worries. I’ll go check on the two geniuses. Make sure they haven’t blown up anything yet.”

 

The two parted and Rhodey made his way to the lab. Stepping inside, he was greeted to the sight of Tony and Peter bent over one of the Iron Man suits. Peter was working with the wiring inside it while Tony looked on, his eyes revealing a dash of pride at the sight. 

 

Rhodey cleared his throat and the two looked up at him simultaneously and smiled.

 

Tony put his hand on Peter’s shoulder and told him to keep working. 

 

The billionaire walked over towards his best friend and ushered them into the hallway.

 

The smile dropped off of his face.

 

“How’d the rest of it go?”

 

Rhodey frowned. “Let’s just say that Everhart basically revealed everything about him except the Spider-Man thing. Oh, everyone also thinks that he’s your biological son.”

 

Tony sighed. “I figured. What’d Pepper say?”

 

“She went down to the PR department. You should probably join her.”

 

Tony glanced around the door and looked in at Peter, whose tongue was clenched between his teeth in concentration.

 

Rhodey looked in as well and smirked.

 

“I can see why they would think you’re related. I can look after the kid. You go down to PR.”

 

Tony sighed and clasped Rhodey’s shoulder.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“No problem.”

 

Tony walked down the hallway towards the elevator and Rhodey went over to Peter.

 

The teen looked up with concern in his eyes but Rhodey quickly dispelled it with the sentence that he uttered.

 

“Alright. Let me tell you about the noodle incident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I get enough requests, the noodle incident (inspired by Calvin and Hobbes) might be turned into a one-shot. ;)
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Sorry about it being a bit short, I've been suuuuper busy this week.
> 
> Lot's of thanks to RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this fic!

**Secret Stark Son?**

 

**Top 10 Reactions to the SI Reveal**

 

**Buzzfeed Presents: The Adorable Stark Heir**

 

**What Will Stark Industries do Next?**

 

**Peter Parker and the ex(?)-Playboy**

 

**Silence from the Starks: When Will They Speak Out?**

 

**Heir Apparent**

 

**Who is Peter Parker?**

 

**Not Biological? I Think Not!**

 

Tony scrubbed a hand down his face as he took a quick pause in reading all of the headlines scattering the news.

 

FRIDAY paused the scrolling articles on the screen as a knock sounded on the other side of the office door.

 

At Tony’s quiet “Come in,” the door opened to reveal Pepper, a concerned look on her face.

 

“You’re in your office… Isn’t this a sign of the apocalypse?”

 

Tony chuckled. “Peter’s in the lab and I didn’t want him to see all of this.”

 

Pepper went silent for a minute and watched Tony with a gentle gaze. The billionaire looked up and noticed the look in her eyes. 

 

“What?”

The CEO closed the door and sat in the chair across from Tony. Setting her Stark pad down on the desk, she pulled up a list that she had received from the PR department.

 

“It’s been two days. We have to announce something. Tony, I’m sorry, but Peter will have to do something.”

 

“I don’t want him to have to do anything.”

 

“Tony…”

 

“I know.”

 

Pepper looked away from her fiancé and projected one of the possible options up from the screen. Tony glanced over at it and, after reading the option, leaned forward.

 

“A closed interview… That seems really obvious and I can’t believe that I didn’t think about it before.”

 

The CEO grinned, “A lot better than a press conference and better than a statement. Do you think that you can talk to Peter about it? If he says yes, then we can release a statement about more information coming out later this week and we can make sure that one of WHiH’s rivals gets the job.”

 

“We can also control what gets out.”

 

“Exactly. Go pitch it to the kid.”

 

Tony swiped his screen down and stood up from the desk. Grabbing his coffee, he paused to give Pepper a quick kiss before exiting his office (ugh, offices) and walking down to his lab (yay!). 

 

The doors swished open and he was greeted to the sight of Peter stuck the to ceiling with webs and Butterfingers gesturing wildly underneath, a web shooter in his claw. Dum-E was approaching the scene at high speeds with one of his fire extinguishers. 

 

Peter was yelling instructions at U to grab the solution to get rid of the webs and oh no, Dum-E please no don’t agh!

 

After Peter, still stuck, had somehow gotten doused with the fire extinguisher (even though he was on the ceiling), Tony cleared his throat.

 

Everyone in the lab froze. Tony raised an eyebrow and walked forward slowly. As he advanced, Butterfingers scrambled into a far corner of the lab, Dum-E lowered his fire extinguisher and rolled back a few feet, U approached with the solution for the webs, and Peter waved awkwardly from the ceiling.

 

“Hey, Mr. Stark.”

 

Tony sighed. Without responding to the greeting, he grabbed the dunce cap off of his work table and placed it on Dum-E, who put the fire extinguisher down and bumped Tony’s leg until the engineer gave him a tired pat on his claw.

 

He walked forward and accepted the web solution from U. Attaching the Iron Man boots, he flew upwards and released Peter from the ceiling, grabbing him and lowering them both back to the floor.

 

The minute the teen was back on the ground, Tony grabbed a towel and threw it at him. 

 

Peter caught it and started wiping off the foam from Dum-E’s preemptive fire safety measures.

 

Tony sat down and stared at Peter with a single eyebrow still raised. Peter shuffled under the gaze.

 

“So… can we agree to forget what you just saw?”

 

“Only if you never speak of the noodle incident ever again.”

 

“Whaaaat! At least I didn’t cause the building to be evacuated!”

 

“If you don’t agree to this deal, I will post everything that just occurred online for everyone to see.”

 

“... Fine.”

 

Tony nodded and gestured for the teen to sit. He leaned forward in his chair and searched Peter’s face with his eyes.

 

Peter shifted in his chair before snapping and waving finger guns at Tony. “So… What’s up?”

 

The billionaire sighed but decided to not comment on the finger guns, obviously someone had been spending too much time on Tumdler? Tunder? Whatever…

 

“So, Peter. The PR department came up with a fantastic idea for how to deal with the Everhart situation. Instead of a press conference, how about a controlled interview? Pepper already has a list of good reporters who wouldn’t push you too much, and I would be able to be there. What’d you think?”

 

Peter blinked in surprise. “Oh… oh. Yeah. That sounds pretty good. When would it happen?”

 

“Preferably as soon as possible, but if you’re not comfortable yet I can go make some drama as a distraction. Or I could get one of the Avengers to make some drama. Alright alright, I can get Sam to start reenacting some of those sine things that I caught you watching.”

 

“Vine.”

 

“Gazuntite.”

 

“No. They’re called vines.”

 

“Semantics.”

 

Tony tapped his chin and opened his mouth to continue plotting about things he could get the Avengers to do for distractions, but Peter interrupted him.

 

“I think I can do it.”

 

“What?”

 

“The interview. I can do it.”

 

Tony glanced at him in concern and nodded. “If you’re sure.”

 

“I’m sure.”

 

“Does Wednesday work for you?”

 

Peter smirked. “It is Wednesday, my dudes. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

 

Tony’s eyes widened and he scooted his chair back. “Alright, in that case, the interview will be on Tuesday.”

 

“I can’t believe you’ve done this.”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bots AND vine references? Yaaaas!
> 
> I hope you liked it!
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own 60 minutes, but I do watch it a ton.
> 
> Lot's of thanks to RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this! She recently posted (on AO3) a collection of ficlets titled "the darker corners of the universe" for the penumbra podcast, and it's beautiful and y'all should go read it.

The ticking of a clock sounded from TVs all over. 

The clock faded into the background and the view became one of a reporter sitting in front of a giant book with the title A New Era: Meet the Stark Heir, and a photo of Peter Parker and Tony Stark sitting on a couch and talking to someone animatedly, smiles on both of their faces.

The reporter smiled at the camera and, with the classic 60 Minutes professional tone of voice, addressed the audience.

“Good evening, and welcome to the last story of this week’s episode of 60 Minutes. We tend to take more time to research events before broadcasting a story, but for these two, we made an exception. Recently, WHiH news released a story that revealed the identity of the new heir to Stark Industries, ignoring the plea for respect that the company had asked for when the announcement about an heir was released. Soon afterwards, SI released a statement that an interview would be released to the public soon. That interview, tonight.”

The picture on the screen changed to a video of the reporter walking into Stark Tower with the camera crew behind her. The glass doors opened up and the view of the elegant, modern lobby was shown. An elevator dinged and a greeting was heard coming from the other direction. It turned to show Tony Stark strutting forward with his signature goatee and sunglasses, a smile on his face, and an AC/DC shirt with a blazer thrown over it.

He reached out his hand and shook the hand of the reporter who had come to the tower. Waving at the camera crew, he turned them in the direction of the elevators. 

The view changed to one of Tony Stark and Peter Parker sitting on a couch with the view of a tastefully decorated wall with a fireplace behind them. Tony’s sunglasses had come off and he had an arm nonchalantly slung over the back of the couch. Peter was glancing around awkwardly, sitting a little forward, wearing a shirt that said “I may be Nerdy, but only periodically,” with the Nerdy written out via the elements of the periodic table.

The view changed to the reporter.

“Well. To start this out, I love the shirt, it’s hilarious.”

Peter looked down and laughed. He turned to look at Tony with a searching gaze, the billionaire gave him an imperceptible nod, and the teen turned to look at the reporter with a smile on his face.

“It’s one of my favorites. Tony tried to make us wear matching three piece suits, but Pepper stopped that disaster fast.”

Tony frowned good humoredly with a twinkle in his eye. “It would have been legendary.”

“It would have been something.”

“Hey!”

The reporter laughed. “You two seem rather comfortable with each other.”

Tony snorted. “I just got him to stop calling me Mr. Stark.”

Peter smiled but didn’t deign to comment.

The reporter continued. “Well, for my first question, Peter, what are your feelings around the recent reveal of your identity?”

The teen frowned and shifted on the couch. “I guess I knew deep down that it would come out eventually? I just… I guess I thought that I would be able to do it on my own terms once I was out of school. I mean… If it had happened that way, I would have totally done a giant imitation of Tony’s “I am Iron Man” speech. I’d stand up at a podium with a bunch of cue cards, dramatically throw them over my shoulder and then in the Batman voice just say, “I’m the Stark heir,” and then I would do a mic drop and walk out.”

Peter took a deep breath, as he hadn't done so at all during his ramble. Tony stared at him incredulously. 

“If that’s what you were planning, I’m actually glad that it happened the way it did.”

“It would have been incredible.”

The view turned back to the reporter smiling and glancing between the two as they continued their back and forth.

She began the next question. “So, how did the two of you meet?”

Tony glanced at Peter and took the question.

“The first time I met Peter, well, met is the wrong term. We first interacted at the 2010 Stark Expo, yes, that one.”

The billionaire paused and turned to Peter with his eyebrows raised. Peter looked at him questioningly for a second before realizing that he was passing it to the teen.

“Oh, yeah! So, I had on an Iron Man mask and gauntlet, the ones that people would get for Halloween, and one of the Hammer drones tried to kill me, but Tony landed next to me, and shot the drone. He then proceeded to look at me and say “Nice work, kid”, and then he flew off. It was the greatest moment of my young life.”

Tony took over from there. “So, long story short, I remembered the incident and did some research to see if the kid made it out okay. I ended up at one of his science fairs, looking for potential SI innovations, and recognized him. Turns out that, not only is this kid a genius, but he also helps out a mutual friend of ours, Spider-Man, with his webbing. I brought him into the compound to give him better equipment and ended up getting attached.”

The reporter smiled. “That certainly is a fantastic story. Dr. Stark, where do you think this will bring the company?”

Tony started to answer the question while Peter zoned out a bit and started making reaction faces directly into the camera. Tony paused and looked over in confusion at the teen.

“What are you doing?”

Peter paused. “Err… I’m practicing. You know, in The Office, they turn into the camera and are able to communicate all their feelings with just one look? I’m… working on that.”

Tony continued to stare at him as he nervously laughed. Tony turned to look directly into the camera and gave it a deadpan look before sighing and looking back at his protégé.

“At least it wasn’t a vine this time.”

Peter gasped and Tony put his face in his hands.

“You got the name right this time! I’m so proud of you! I’m slowly making you aware of Gen Z and millennial culture! Yessssss.”

Tony stared at the reporter and spoke with an annoyed tone. “He put lemons inside my cereal boxes. He attacked pigeons on the balcony with a hose yelling about how it wasn’t their land. Those are only two examples of the things I have had to put up with.”

Peter snorted. “It’s necessary for your education. You called a dab a “dap” the other day.”

Tony sighed and Peter tapped him on the arm.

“Hey. Hey. How did you take down Captain America?”

Tony sighed again, closed his eyes, and replied, “We shot him in ze legs because his shield is ze size of a dinner plate and he’s an idiot.”

Peter raised his hands in triumph as Tony tried to cover up a smile.

The view transitioned to the reporter sitting in front of the large book again. She smiled at the camera. 

“As many of you know, the Avengers have only recently gotten back together after the event that has been titled the “Avengers Civil War” over the Sokovia Accords. While at Stark Tower, I took the opportunity to ask both Dr. Stark and Mr. Parker about their experience with the conflict. While Dr. Stark chose to not respond to the question, pointing me towards the official press releases, Mr. Parker, however, had an interesting insight into the conflict.”

The camera was shown pointing at Peter, Tony missing from the couch. The teen flicked his eyes to the corner of the room and fidgeted before looking back at the reporter.

“I guess… the Sokovia Accords situation was interesting for me because we had been following it in my current events class and then I was able to see, up close, the situation with the Avengers. The perspective allowed me to be able to look at it objectively as well as emotionally. I feel that the reason it went south fast was no one really talked it out with each other, and by the time it had finished… No one wanted to talk it out because everyone was hurt in more ways than one.”

The reporter nodded and gestured her pen at him. “Do you think that, with the pardons for the “ex-vengers”, the conflict may be resolved?”

Peter frowned and thought about the question for a second before slowly nodding. “I don’t think that it will ever go back to the way it was, but I do think that, if they think about the context of everyone’s reactions and hash it out, some semblance of the way it was may be achievable.”

The video of Peter faded into the background as the photo on the book with the reporter in front. She clasped her hands together.

“Wise words from a teen with a very large future in front of him. This brings us to the end of today’s broadcast. Visit 60 Minutes Overtime to hear our interview with the CEO of SI, Pepper Potts, on the future of Stark Industries and how Mr. Parker might shape it. This has been 60 minutes.”

The titular clock appeared and the ticking started to play.

The last tick sounded and it faded from screens.

The beginning of a new era.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> The noodle incident is currently being written.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing!
> 
> I also just found out that apparently Anderson Cooper is canonically a character in the Marvel comics and I felt like that info needed to be spread.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have officially posted the noodle incident! You can find it under the title: masquerading as a man with a reason, or just look in this series.
> 
> RecklessDaydreamer is the best and everyone should go read her writing
> 
> Thanks to Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan for their prompt :)

Many weeks later:

Tony sat in an office, tapping a pen and staring at the woman sitting across from him.

Aunt May.

She leaned forward and placed both hands on the table.

“Tony. My apartment has paparazzi stationed outside of it and Peter has to go back to school soon. I know that our original plan was to have him stay with you for the summer and come back to during the school year, but I honestly don’t think that it would be safe for him to come back to the apartment.”

Tony tapped the pencil on the desk one last time before sitting up and copying May’s pose.

“I’m actually glad that you came to see me because I was going to bring up the same topic. How about you and Peter come and permanently move into the tower? I can have transport and a security escort arranged for him when he goes to school.”

Much to Tony’s surprise, May closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, rather than having a more extreme reaction to the idea. The billionaire cocked his head to the side, wondering what she was about to say. 

She opened her eyes back and looked towards the corner of the room. “Did you know that I never officially adopted Peter?”

“Yes.”

“Technically I’m just his guardian. You know, I thought that I could do it, that once we earned enough income to support our family, Ben and I would make it permanent. Then… then Ben died, Peter got powers, and now this! I don’t know what to do, Tony. I love this kid with all my heart but I know that I’m not the person that can help him.”

The billionaire froze. “What are you trying to say?”

“Do you see the way he looked at you? He just… you’re his hero, and I know that you see him as your own. What I’m trying to say is that… I don’t think that staying with me will help him the most. I was wondering if you would take guardianship or even partial guardianship, over Peter. I can’t help him with all of this, but I know that you can. Will you at least think about it?”

Tony stared in shock at May, his mouth gaping.

May continued, “I’ll even go talk to him about it right now if I have to. This kid has gone through too much. The least I can do is try and make it so that he’s in the best position to succeed. If that means I have to be out of the way, then I’ll get out of the way.”

Tony leaned forward in his chair, eyes focusing dangerously on May. “I sure as hell do not want you to just up and abandon this kid! You said it yourself. He’s been through too much. You can’t just leave him!”

“Then what should I do, Tony?!”

“Move into the tower! I’ve already thought it out. There’s a bunch of guest suites open from when the Avengers moved out. I can have all your stuff delivered there by tomorrow, before Pete has to go back to school. Look, I completely understand thinking that an option has to be one of two options, but I’ve found that it’s usually best if you can come to a compromise. Thinking on either side of an extremity is dangerous. If the option still stands for us to have joint custody over Peter, then I would run and call my lawyers right away because that kid means a lot to me and I would love to make it more official. But don’t think that you have to leave for that to happen. He loves you, and you love him, and I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

Tony had turned to trace the veins of wood in his desk while speaking, but as he finished, he looked up to the sight of May crying, hand over her mouth. His eyebrows shot up and he slowly sat up, hand reaching forward to awkwardly pat May’s other hand that was resting on the desk.

“Hey. No. Don’t do that.”

She wiped her face, and sniffed. “Sorry, sorry, I just… I don’t want to leave him.”

“You don’t have to. Alright. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to call Happy and he’s going to arrange for your stuff to get moved out of your apartment and into one of the suites. Peter’s room is on my level but I’m sure he could move down…”

“No. No. That’s not necessary. I’m gone most of the time because of my shifts at work and I’d rather have Peter with you than with empty rooms.”

Tony smiled, a small sense of victory in his chest. He hadn’t wanted to part with the kid, even by a floor or two, but he had been willing.

The Avenger stood up from his desk and grabbed his phone, slipping it into a pocket.

“Let’s go talk to Peter.”

May stood up and followed as he walked out of the door, asking FRIDAY where the kid had gotten to.

“He’s in the staff cafeteria, Boss. Birdman is with him.”

“Birdman?”

“You told me to call Mr. Wilson that exactly four days and 57 seconds ago.”

“Oh right. Yeah. What are they doing in the staff cafeteria?”

“I’d rather not say.”

Tony eyebrows flew up and he turned towards May. “I think it would be best if we hurried.”

The two raced towards the elevator, speeding down until, with a quiet bing, the doors slid open, revealing an empty cafeteria and two figures standing next to the drink selection area.

Peter was grinning from ear to ear, clutching his phone, as Sam filled up a cup as fast as he could with selections of all the drinks, took a sip, and looked directly into the camera.

“F*** you.”

Much to the dismay of the two, FRIDAY kept playing an automated beeping noise whenever they said the expletive. “Hall monitor” protocols were still in place.

The two giggled and turned to watch the recording. Bent over the phone, neither noticed that Tony and May were approaching until May cleared her throat loudly.

They turned to the sight of Tony and May standing with eyebrows raised and arms crossed. 

Sam started to panic.

“Nope. I’m out of here. This situation is too dangerous for me.”

Falcon ran towards the doors to the balcony, swinging them open and yelling, “You’re on your own kid!” before jumping off of the side of the building and flying away.

Peter waved. “Bye, Sam!”

The teen turned back to the two in front of him and crossed his arms, leaning casually against the drink selection machine.

“Hey, uh, hey. What are… what’re you two doing here?”

Tony and May exchanged a glance before Tony drawled, “Looking for you. What are you doing here?”

The teen mumbled something.

May leaned forward, a hand cupping her ear. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Err… Well. Sam and I were… reenacting a vine.”

Both May and Tony sighed at the same time before Tony pulled out a chair that was settled at one of the cafeteria tables and gestured for Peter to sit down in it.

The teen gracelessly slid into it, fidgeting as May and Tony sat down across from him.

May smiled at Peter.

“So, Peter, Tony and I have been talking. We know that school is coming up, and we’ve been discussing some options. We’ve decided that, due to the drama of the last few weeks, we’re going to officially move into the tower.”

Peter gasped. “Wait, really?! That’s so cool!”

May raised a hand placatingly. “We’ve also decided that, if we get your permission, Tony and I will share guardianship over you. That way we can both be at our best to try and help you succeed.”

Peter sat back in the chair, eyes wide.

Tony leaned forward. “If you want to think about it for a bit, that’s okay by me.”

Peter shook his head. “No. No. I don’t need to think about it. I’d really like that. Both of you… both of you mean so much to me and… I’d really like that.”

Tony and May broke out into smiles and stood up from the table. Peter met them halfway for a group hug.

They separated and stood back before the smile dropped from Tony’s face.

“Oh no. I need to go tell Pepper.”

The Avenger rushed off, phone in hand, towards the elevator.

May and Peter watched him go, Aunt May frowning. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“No. Tony just forgets to tell her things and then she gets pissed. After what happened the last time… Let’s just say that he’s been really on top of the whole sharing information thing.”

“Sounds about right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Yay!
> 
> RecklessDaydreamer  
> RecklessDaydreamer  
> Does whatever a beta can.  
> Comma's fixed?  
> Yes she didst.  
> And these sentences  
> are remixed.  
> Look out!  
> Here's comes the best beta!

The car slid through the traffic of New York. Happy swore profusely at the other drivers while Tony and Peter sat in the back.

 

Aunt May, though she now lived in the tower with them, still had the same work schedule. Tony had volunteered to accompany Peter to the first day of school for the year.

 

Peter’s backpack sat in his lap and he fidgeted with the straps. Tony looked up at him and turned to face the teen.

 

“Peter, hey. Look at me.”

 

Peter turned to face him.

 

“So, kiddo. I’ve been meaning to have this chat with you for a while now. This seems like a good time.”

 

The billionaire closed his eyes and took a breath before patting Peter on the shoulder.

 

“I didn’t want people to find out about you until you were in college at the very least. I’m sorry that all of this happened.”

 

Peter opened his mouth to protest but Tony raised a hand up to stop him from talking. 

 

“We can’t change what happened, so the best thing I can do is to prepare you for what will happen. People are going to act different around you, Pete. Some people are going to be aggressive, but the most dangerous to you are the ones who will suddenly be nicer to you. I… I had a lot of heartbreaks when I was your age for that very reason. The best advice I can give you is to judge people by how they acted before, and don’t push away your real friends.”

 

Peter looked up at Tony with a scared look in his eyes. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

 

Tony leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the teen. “I know you can do this. You’re Spider-Man and you’re also the closest thing I have… I have to a son. I believe in you. May believes in you. I know the Avengers definitely do. Besides, if anything happens, you can always call me or any of the other Avengers.”

 

Happy glanced back in the mirror and spoke up. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re here.”

 

The car pulled up to the curb and a swarm of reporters automatically pointed their cameras toward them.

 

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out an extra pair of sunglasses. Sliding them onto Peter’s face, he grinned, “Now you look like a Stark. Go get ‘em kiddo.”

 

Happy got out of the driver's seat and walked around to open the door. With one last look at Tony, who was sending him a thumbs up, Peter slid out of the car and walked up the steps, Happy’s hand on his back as the bodyguard rushed him through the crowd of reporters who were all yelling questions and flashing their cameras. For some reason, the flashes of light weren’t as intense as they usually were. Did Tony add something to the glasses? 

 

It didn’t matter for now. He could interrogate Mr. Sta… Tony, later. They made it through the doors, and stopped. Happy turned to look at the teen and gave him one short nod before walking back out. 

 

Peter grinned. “Thanks, Happy!”

 

As the bodyguard walked out the door, Peter turned around to the sight of his classmates staring at him and whispering to each other.

 

“Look! It’s him!”

 

“I bet he’s really Stark’s son but they’re just covering it up.”

 

“He is kind of attractive.”

 

“It’s too bad that he’s… you know… so weird.”

 

Peter listened, frozen in place as all the comments washed over him. Footsteps to his right. A group of people who had never interacted with him outside of sneers walked up. There were two girls and one guy. The guy waved. “Hey, Peter, right? We were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us today. The guys and I were going to shoot some hoops with these fine ladies at lunch today.”

 

Peter cringed. “Oh, no, sorry, I can’t, I…”

 

“Peter!”

 

Ned’s voice shot across the room and Peter exhaled in relief. Waving awkwardly at the group, he zoomed over to his best friend. 

 

“Thank you so much for saving me.”

 

“No problem. So, hey. What’s it like? Have you met the Avengers? I haven’t heard from you very much this summer and I was getting worried!”

 

Peter frowned, taking off the sunglasses as they made it to his locker. He slipped his stuff inside, grabbing the materials for his classes.

 

“I’m sorry. With all the stuff that happened, this summer went by really quickly and it was a mess.”

 

“No apologies, I get it. So I got ahold of the Isengard Lego set and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and build it.”

 

Peter gasped and smiled brilliantly at his friend. “Really?! Of course! I’ll have to ask Tony but I’m sure he’ll say it’s okay.”

 

“Dude, that’s so weird.”

 

“What?”

 

“You saying, ‘I’ll have to ask Tony.’”

 

Peter shook his head and laughed. “Yeah.”

 

They both left to their first class with waves and promises to see each other at lunch. Thankfully, the first class went fine for Peter. It was science. Working in the lab with Tony really made the class seem more boring than usual, but he made it through. 

 

Some of the teachers for his classes treated him like they always did. Others pulled him over to the side and asked if it would be possible to see if Peter could get Tony to come in as a speaker one day. He answered with vague responses.

 

Finally, finally, it was lunch time. He grabbed food and walked over to where he always sat with Ned and MJ.

 

The other two hadn’t arrived yet. Pulling out his phone, he bit into an apple while reading the texts running across the screen.

 

Tony: _ Hey, kid. I hope you’re doing good. I’ll pick you up at 3:00. Red Tesla. Elon’s been bugging me about using his cars.  _

 

Peter grinned and typed a response.

 

Peter:  _ All good so far. Ttyl! _

 

Tony:  _ Ttyl better not stand for Tony totally yeets lobster. _

 

Peter:  _ 0_0 Did you just use the word yeet? _

 

Tony:  _ :) _

 

Peter:  _ 0_0 omg _

 

Someone sat down across from him and he looked up from the phone into the angry eyes of none other than Flash Thompson. 

 

He placed the phone on the table and raised an eyebrow at the other student.

 

Flash glared. “I just wanted to let you know that just because you’re Stark’s bastard doesn’t mean that you can get away with anything.”

 

Peter took a deep breath and channeled Tony. “I don’t know, Flash. Aren’t you the one who should be afraid about what one can and can’t get away with?”

 

The bully stood up and opened his mouth for a retort, but a hand landed on his shoulder before he could say anything.

 

MJ stood behind Flash, staring daggers at him. “I don't think this is where you usually sit. Shouldn’t you go off and bother someone else?”

 

The bully glared at her, knocking her hand off his shoulder, and pushed past, grumbling about Peter.

 

Peter looked at at MJ with a dazzling grin. “Hey! Thank you so much for that.”

 

“It looked like you could have handled it, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.”

 

Ned came running up behind and slid into the other seat. “I’m so sorry I’m late! Boy do I have a story to tell you…”

 

Lunch passed peacefully after that, and soon the day was done. 

 

Peter found himself standing in the foyer of the school, staring at the crowd of reporters waiting outside. Tony was somewhere on the other side of that crowd. He slipped the sunglasses on his face as Ned and MJ slide up next to him. 

 

MJ narrowed her eyes. “Do you need me to fight them for you?”

 

Ned gasped. “You can’t just go around fighting people! But I would totally join in.”

 

The two turned to look at Peter. “Both of you need to go catch the subway, you don’t need to stay with me.”

 

MJ smiled. “It’s too bad that I already came up with a distraction plan.”

 

Right as she said that, the reporters started shouting as five students wearing inflatable T-Rex outfits came charging at them.

 

In the chaos, MJ pushed Peter out the doors and past the reporters, leaving Ned behind with a wave and a promise to call him. 

 

They jogged down the steps towards the red Tesla with the unmistakable sight of Tony Stark sitting inside it. The billionaire was laughing at the sight of the reporters being taken out by inflatable dinosaurs.

 

They made it to the car. Peter opened the door and paused to look at MJ. “How did you do that?”

 

“A few nerds owed me a favor. See you tomorrow.”

 

The teen walked away and Tony pulled the car out of the line-up of parents. The reporters looked up just in time to see them go and swore at their… misfortune.

 

The inflatable dinosaurs skipped off, their job done.

 

Tony looked over and Peter and smiled.

 

“How was the day, kid?”

 

The teen returned the smile.

 

“Good.”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> There will probably be 1-2 more chapters of this due to a looming schedule battle that is on the horizon for me.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> My thanks to RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this!
> 
> This is a bit short... I didn't have a ton of time to work on it :(

Steve Rogers sat on the couch in the Compound, Bucky snuggled up next to him. They were alone in the living room. The Compound always seemed empty. No one was ever around.

 

Steve didn’t know how he could have continued to function with the split in the team without Wakanda’s help. Princess Shuri had wiped HYDRA’s programming out of Bucky’s mind. He didn’t have the original Bucky back-- he probably never would-- but this was better than nothing.

 

They were watching some documentary show. Onscreen was a chase scene between a lizard and a bunch of snakes. Steve was rooting for the lizard.

 

The smooth British voice was suddenly interrupted by an abrupt American one from right behind them.

 

“The lizard dies.”

 

The two turned around to look at Sam. He was standing behind the couch and oh-so-innocently slurping out of a juice box.

 

Bucky raised an eyebrow. Instead of responding to the sarcasm that is represented by an eyebrow raise, Sam started gesturing towards the screen.

 

“Look! Look!”

 

Turning around, the two soldiers were greeted to the sight of the lizard being eaten by one of the snakes.

 

Sam started cackling evilly as he rushed out of the room singing the “Circle of Life.”

 

Bucky drawled, “That’s too bad. The lizard was starting to grow on me.”

 

Steve opened his mouth to reply, but he was stopped by his phone buzzing on the table next to the couch. It was a text from Rhodey.

 

_Mark your calendar. Meeting at the Shawarma place. Saturday at 11. Bring your friend._

 -  _ _J.R.__

 

Bucky leaned over. “What’s up?”

 

The supersoldier typed an affirmative response and turned towards his friend.

 

“Have you ever had Shawarma?”

 

* * *

 

Wanda threw a punch towards the spy who caught it and twisted.

 

She yelped and jumped backwards, arms up in defense.

 

Natasha struck Wanda in the chest with a well-aimed kick and Wanda fell to the ground with a groan.

 

Wanda whacked her hand down on the mat and moaned, “I yield.”

 

The spy stood back and walked out of the ring. “You can’t always rely on your magic. You need to learn how to defend yourself.”

 

“I know, I know. I just…”

 

Wanda’s comment went unheard as the sound of two buzzing phones came from where their street clothes were lying.

 

The two walked over and checked their phones.

 

_Meeting at the Shawarma place. Saturday at 11._

 -  _ _J.R.__

 

Wanda looked down, confused. “Shawarma place?”

 

The spy laughed. “It’s a long story.”

 

* * *

 

TheEaglesRComing: _Rhodey wants everyone to meet at the Shawarma place. Saturday at 11. You both just got out of house arrest right?_

 

Legolas: _Hell yes!_

 

TicTac: _Shawarma place?_

 

Legolas: _Long story._

 

TheEaglesRComing: _I have no idea what it means either. Is this an original cliche thing?_

 

Legolas: _Yeah_

 

TicTac: _I can’t make it. I promised that I’d see Cassie this weekend._

 

TheEaglesRComing: _That’s fine. Technically you’re not an Avenger TBH_

 

Legolas: _OOO burn_

 

TicTac: _Sam, I came here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now_

 

* * *

 

Tony and Rhodey sat in the lab. The engineer was elbows deep into the Iron Man suit while the Colonel was ranting about some general who’d pissed him off.

 

Footsteps sounded behind them and they turned to the sight of Peter walking into the lab. Ned’s awestruck face peered around the doorframe.

 

Peter held up a phone. “Hey, Rhodey! You forgot your phone upstairs.”

 

He handed the phone to the Colonel and stood there awkwardly for a second before Tony looked up from the armor.

 

“Hey, so. You know how you were telling me about the Shawarma place the Avengers went to after the Battle of New York? I was wondering if we could go try it, this Saturday, at 11.”

 

The engineer narrowed his eyes. “That’s oddly specific.”

 

“Well, you were saying Vision would be in town and I figured we could go do something fun. I… uh, made reservations already.”

 

Tony leaned back his chair and examined the teen. “Alright. Rhodey's coming too, right?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

The Colonel made eye contact with Tony before shrugging. “Sure, why not?”

 

Tony leaned to look past Peter at the star-struck face of Ned. “Hey, Ted!”

 

Ned’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Uh….”

 

Peter interrupted, “Alright. Sounds good. I’m going to head out then.”

 

“Alright. Be back by 10.”

 

The teens walked out of the room. Rhodey looked at Tony and whacked his arm.

 

“Oww hey…”

 

“You are such a dad.”

 

Tony glared at Rhodey, but didn’t deny the comment. “The kid is a parasite.”

 

“True. Well. Are you excited for Shawarma?”

 

Tony’s eyebrow rose. “Judging by the fact that the Shawarma place doesn’t take reservations, something other than Shawarma is being planned. Be vigilant.”

 

“Will do.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was more of a transition chapter.  
> I figured I should post one more before heading off on a tiny hiatus, probably about 2 weeks...
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for being patient with my mini hiatus!
> 
> I would like to send all the love towards RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this!

Tony walked into the living room of his penthouse to the sight of Rhodey and Vision chatting calmly, civilian clothes on, Tony’s tech wrapping Rhodey’s legs.

They looked up at the sound of his footsteps. Tony walked over to Vision and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Good to have you back. How was the vacation?”

He tilted his head towards Tony. “It was very educational. I find myself with a greater appreciation for human nature. I do hope that the return of our old teammates has not been too hard on you. Colonel Rhodes has kept me up to date with the new developments.”

Tony turned a glare toward Rhodey. “Really, platypus? Talking about me behind my back?”

Rhodey scoffed, “Oh? Like you were going to tell him?”

Silence reigned momentarily before Tony sniffed. “Granted.”

Before anyone else could make another comment, the sound of people chanting “Bill! Bill! Bill!” echoed throughout the room.

Tony whipped out his phone and opened the text.

“The kid’s going to meet us there, apparently.”

Rhodey frowned at the phone. “What even was that ringtone?”

Tony had become engrossed in texting Peter as many emojis as he could, so Vision took it upon himself to answer.

“I do believe that the chanting of the name Bill is part of the intro to a show known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, popular among American youths.”

“Oh. Alright. That explains why Tony has it as a ringtone. Tones. Why is that your ringtone?”

Tony looked up and slid the phone into a pocket. “Peter and I binge watched the show, he’s really into it.”

Vision frowned. “Peter?”

The other two looked up in confusion before Tony’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh! You never officially met him… the spider kid. Spider-Man. My protégé. Have you not watched the news recently? It was a huge story, really annoying, but still huge.”

“I have not.”

“Well… the kid’s a riot. You’ll love him.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes in exasperation before ushering Tony and Vision out of the building and towards the restaurant. 

As they neared the place, they noticed that the blinds over the windows had been closed, obscuring the view of the inside. The sign that rested in the door said: closed for private event.

Tony sighed. “I knew he was doing something. Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.”

He walked forward, the other two right behind him, and swung the door open. 

The three stood in shock at the view in front of them as the door closed behind them.

A large circular table sat in the middle of the room, food scattered across it. A projector hung from the ceiling, showing a hastily put together powerpoint presentation. And the majority of the persons who’d participated in the ‘civil war’ were sitting in silence and staring at each other. Well, everyone except for Scott and T’Challa. Scott was spending the weekend with Cassie and Peter had been unsuccessful in contacting T’Challa. His attempts had given Ned’s computer a virus that played the ominous chant “you better watch out. You better watch out. You Better Watch OUT. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT” every time Ned clicked the letter B. 

Everyone turned to look up at Tony, Rhodey, and Vision.

Peter waved from where he was standing in front of the projector screen.

“Hey, Da… Tony! Colonel Rhodes! Vision! Yas! Have a seat!”

The three glanced around before sitting down across from Steve and Bucky. Sam and Natasha were closest to the new arrivals, with Wanda and Clint sitting on Bucky’s other side. Wanda shot a questioning glance at Vision.

Clint stuck his thumb out at Peter once everyone had finished greeting one another with stiff nods.

“Who is this kid and what are we doing here?”

Peter puffed up. “I’m Spider-Man!”

Clint’s eyebrows raised before turning to look at Tony.

“Tony… oh my god. You brought him to fight us?”

He glared across the table. “Bite me, Barton.”

“Oh, I wi…”

“Hey!” Peter’s voice bounced around the room, cutting off the argument that was about to ensue. “Do you want to know why you’re here or not?”

Steve nodded after exchanging a glance with Bucky. “Go ahead, kid.”

Peter looked towards Tony, who gave him the universal “do continue” hand gesture.

“Alright, so. When Tony and I had that 60 Minutes interview, the question about the Sokovia Accords got me thinking that none of you had all the sides of the story, like, at all. So I was thinking that we could try and talk it out peacefully, and see what can be done about that. I even brought some of the conversational propaganda from all the times my school has tried to get us to bond.”

Sighs were uttered from all across the table as everyone shifted their gazes to watch the others’ reactions. Well. Everyone but Sam, who was happily munching on the shawarma.

Peter picked up a hat full of small pieces of paper and shook them around, his other hand clicking a remote that changed the slide to a page that said “communication is key” in a overly edited font. 

He grinned wickedly as he pulled a name out of the hat. “For the first round, you’re going to have one to two minutes to talk about why you did what you did. Remember that this is a safe space.” He looked down and read the name. “The first one up is Natasha!”

The spy stared him down before sighing. “I was trying to keep us together. I made mistakes. That’s it. I’ve already apologized to those who needed one.”

Peter checked his watch. “That wasn’t a minute, but alright, spider buddies, I’ll let you get away with it.” He picked the next name out of the hat. “Next is… Tony!”

Tony glared at Peter. “I’m disowning you.”

“No you’re not.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Peter widened his eyes and frowned sadly. “Please??”

“No…”

“Please???”

“... fine.”

Everyone turned to look at him expectantly. He glared out at the table from under the sunglasses that sat perched on his nose.

“I had been notified of the Accords early on, and had already contacted my team of lawyers to begin the process for adding amendments into it. After the events with Ultron, I realized that we needed to be put into check because we were starting to be just as dangerously unaccountable as my weapons were.” 

Wanda muttered under her breath at the mention of his weapons. He glared at her quickly before continuing. “I ran the calculations, and the Accords were the best option in front of us. I didn’t expect everything to devolve the way it did. I certainly didn’t expect to have to fight the team that I had cared about. I also didn’t expect for someone to have lied to me for years about a personal tragedy that had really messed me up. So there. That’s why I did what I did.”

He sat back in his chair, arms crossed. Rhodey patted him on the leg while Peter shot him a blinding smile.

Peter grabbed the next name. “Bucky!”

The soldier shifted and leaned into the arm that Steve had slung over his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to get mixed up in this. I’m real sorry about what happened.” He looked at Tony. “About everything that I’ve done.”

He went silent and Peter awkwardly picked the next name.

“Wanda!”

She glared at Tony and spat out, “I wasn’t going to let my parents’ murderer get away with imprisoning me.”

Peter, to everyone’s surprise, groaned loudly. “I promised myself that I would try to remain impartial, but nope, can’t do it.” He placed the hat on the table. “I had a friend of mine hack into the Stark Industries archive…”

“Hey!”

“It’s your fault for giving me the wifi password. Anyways, we tracked the weapons shipment and the one that landed on your home was sold under the table. Tony had nothing to do with it.”

She turned to stare at Peter. “What?”

“Tony didn’t kill your parents.”

She looked down and the table before standing up and backing away from the group. “I… I need to go.” She briskly walked out the restaurant, the door closing behind her.

Peter pulled another name out of the hat. “Clint! Your turn.”

Clint set down the shawarma and wiped his hands with a napkin. “Cap called me and said that Tony had locked Wanda in the compound. I went to rescue her. It devolved from there. End of story.”

“Alright. Sam!”

“Come on, man, you know for a fact that I’ve already talked this out with everyone.”

“Fine… you get a pass.”

Sam did a fist pump and went back to eating.

“Steve!”

He raised his head and confidently began to speak. “I had to save Bucky and I couldn’t let the Avengers be controlled by the government. I wasn’t told that it was possible to change the Accords to what they are now.”

“You do realize that the United Nations is technically an organization and not a government, right?” Peter asked.

“Yes...”

“Did you actually read the Accords before fighting everyone?”

“... Not really.”

“Wow.”

Tony snorted. “I thought you were trying to be impartial, Pete.”

Peter flung his hands in the air in frustration. “I can’t help it! It’s too ignorant to not comment on it.” He turned back to Steve. “Is that all you’re going to say? No other defense?”

Steve sniffed. “I’ve said all I needed to.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at the obstinance sitting next to him.

Peter pulled the next name out. “Vision! You’re up!”

Vision placed his hands together on the table and looked around the room. “I ran the calculations, and the Accords seemed like the best option. I acted according to those calculations.”

“Oh hey! It’s me now!” Peter took a deep breath before embarking on his statement. “So Mister Stark randomly showed up at my apartment and was like ‘hey! Wanna go to Germany?’ and I was all like ‘yeah! Cool!’ He didn’t really tell me what was going on but like… current events class… Then we all fought each other which was really awesome… er, I mean… awful, awful. So that’s my story.”

Natasha smirked at him. “Eloquently put. I like how you said of that in one breath.”

Tony grinned. “That’s my kid.”

Peter smiled. “Colonel Rhodes! Your turn!”

“It was the right thing to do. Being in the Air Force taught me a thing or two about bureaucracy, and the Accords was the only solution that would have healed the problems evident in the system. I thought it through, I know that Tony thought it through, and I stand by my actions.”

The room went silent with various people nodding in affirmation as they all turned to look at Peter.

The teen shifted. “Oh. Right. I guess we’re done now. I do have to say, Tony was the only one who went with the whole one to two minutes thing, so shame on the rest of you. The only thing left to do now… is dyads!”

A chorus of no’s were shouted across the room.

“In that case… you are all free to go and reflect about everything you’ve heard today. Feel free to take some food with you!”

The Avengers each stood and grabbed some of the food off of the table, heading out the door by themselves or in pairs until it was just Tony and Peter in the restaurant.

Peter cast his eyes at the ground as Tony walked over to him. The billionaire frowned and put a finger under his chin.

“Hey. Kiddo. Look at me. What’s up?”

Peter sniffed. “Was that okay? I just… you were so miserable every time that the whole situation came up and I wanted to try and make it better.”

Tony paused a second before embracing Peter, who returned the hug instantly.

“You did good, kid. You did good. I never thought that any of us would be able to sit in the same room and do what you just made us do. At the very least, we should be able to moderately stand each other now.”

Peter sniffed into his shirt and Tony paused, a frown flitting across his face. “Hey. Who’s paying for this?”

Peter giggled. “You are.”

“That’s it. I’m disowning you.”

“No you’re not.”

Tony smiled. “No. I’m not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I'm sure you've noticed, this is the last chapter. I felt like this was a good place to end. 
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you, RecklessDaydreamer! Couldn't have done it without you.
> 
> All of the comments and kudos that I've received have really brightened my days and I cannot thank all of you enough for the support.
> 
> Let me know what you think. 
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing :)


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